Could global warming lead to an increase in spontaneous human combustion?
1. Henry Thomas was a 73-year-old man living in South Wales when he came to his mysterious end in 1980. The policemen and forensic scientists deduced this from Thomas’ remains: he had been sitting comfortably in his easy chair when he somehow caught fire near the top of his body and burned to death. And it was an intense fire – all that was left of Mr. Thomas were his legs below the knee and his skull. Oddly, his feet were completely unburned and what was left of his legs were still clothes in socks and trousers that were practically untouched by the fire.
2. Robert Francis Bailey apparently experienced something similar about 13 years prior to Thomas’ incident. A group of office workers were waiting for the bus around 5 a.m. on September 13, 1967, when they noticed flames in the upper window of a building. They immediately called the police, who rushed to the scene of the derelict building. There, they found the still-burning body of Robert Bailey, a homeless man. The policeman first to the scene reported that a blue flame was being emitted forcefully from a four-inch slit in Bailey’s abdomen, and his teeth were clenched down on the newel post of the staircase he had collapsed next to. They managed to extinguish Bailey by forcing a hose into the abdominal cavity.
3. Mary Reeser of St. Petersburg, Florida, was found dead in her home on July 2, 1951. Her landlady showed up at the door around 8 a.m. on July 2, and when she touched the doorknob to the apartment it was alarmingly warm to the touch. Getting no response from inside, the landlady called the police. They found what was left of Mary Reeser in a chair, just like Henry Thomas. Part of her left foot remained, including the slipper it was encased in. Her skull remained as well, but some reports say the heat shrunk it down to the size of a teacup.
4. John Irving Bentley enjoyed an evening of visiting with friends at his home on December 4, 1966, and then, apparently, he spontaneously combusted.
5. Jeannie Saffin is an unusual case – someone actually witnessed her combustion. Jeannie was 61 years old when she died, but had the mental capacity of a six-year-old. According to her father, who was 82 at the time, he and Jeannie were both sitting in the kitchen when he saw a bright surge of light out of the corner of his eye and turned to ask his daughter if she had seen it. To his amazement, when he turned his head to look at her, she was on fire, but just sat still with her hands in her lap.
6. George Mott of Crown Point, N.Y., was enjoying an episode of The Twilight Zone the night before he burst into flames, and is said to have remarked, “Nothing weird like that ever happens to me. I wish it would.” Umm… be careful what you wish for. The next day, according to Weird New England, his son found the three and a half pounds of bone and ash that used to be George Mott.
7. Jack Angel is a man who spontaneously combusted… and survived. At least, that’s his story. He says he simply went to sleep in his trailer in a hotel parking lot and woke up four days later with burns and blisters all over his body, including a giant hole in his chest. He got up and showered and walked over to the hotel, where he collapsed. He woke up in a hospital and was so badly burned that his right hand became horribly infected and was unsalvageable. He had to have his arm amputated at the elbow.
http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/28878
Other notable cases include:
Polonus Vorstius. Polonus was just a regular Italian knight in the late 1400s who liked wine, women, and song. He consumed 'two ladles' of very strong wine one night, and it disagreed with him. People say that he immediately vomited flame, and then burst into flames entirely.
Spontaneous human combustion has claimed the life at least one member of the nobility; Countess Cornelia Di Bandi. The Countess, who lived in the 1700s, was found half way between her bed and her window one morning, with everything except her lower legs and three fingers burned. She had apparently calmly risen from her bed to open the window in the middle of the night, but combusted before she could reach the window.
Ginette Kazmierczak lived with her husband and son in France in the 1970s. When her husband disappeared mysteriously, Ginette contacted the authorities to try to find them. They couldn't find anything. A few days later, while her son was out with some friends, a neighbor found Ginette's body, except for her legs, reduced to ash in an otherwise undisturbed apartment.
http://io9.com/5855700/10-cases-of-spontaneous-human-combustion
Further info available here.
EDIT: Check out 30:00 on 37:00 for an eye-witness account.
